PEACE JOURNALISM PERSPECTIVE
EDITORIAL
by Johan Galtung, 14 May 2012 – TRANSCEND Media Service Six conflicts, four current, one past and one future are shaping our present reality. Conflict is a relation of incompatibility between parties; not an attribute of one party. It spells danger of violence and opportunity to create new realities. Humanity has vast positive and negative experiences. We should all join building on them, wherever they can be found.
OTHER COMMENTARIES
SPOTLIGHT
by Prashant Bushan, Senior Lawyer Supreme Court of India – TRANSCEND Media Service The Koodankulam protestors are therefore fully justified in agitating against the plant. It is imperative that the government respects their sentiments and fears and immediately suspends work at the plant. It must constitute a credible independent expert committee to examine all the safety issues which have been raised, in a transparent manner with public hearings and not resume work on the plant till all safety issues have been credibly addressed.
by Jørgen Johansen – TRANSCEND Media Service A copy of the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) on liability secretly signed between the governments of India and Russia must be made available to the project-affected public. Complete and truthful information must be given to the local people and the citizens of India about nuclear waste that would be produced at the Koodankulam plants and its management. Our friends who are still languishing in prison, Muhilan and Sathishkumar, must be released immediately. The local people’s right to protest peacefully and nonviolently against the KKNPP and other related issues must be respected and honored.
by People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy – TRANSCEND Media Service ‘Respect India’ is a call similar to ‘Quit India’ fervently made by the ordinary citizens of India here at Idinthakarai on May 8, 2012. ‘Quit India’ was a civil disobedience movement launched in response to Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘Quit India’ speech delivered on August 8, 1942 at the Gowalia Tank Maidan in Bombay. Gandhiji’s call for determined, but passive resistance appeared in his appeal to “Do or Die.” India is facing a similar “Do or Die” situation today.
by Indo-Asian News Service – Hindustan Times May 9, 2012 – Around 23,000 people belonging to nine villages in Tamil Nadu have surrendered their voter identity cards to draw attention to the continued neglect of the peaceful protest against the Kundankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP). The decision to surrender the voter identity cards was taken by PMANE as the central and the state governments remain silent on the indefinite fast undertaken by round 340 people at Idinthakarai for nine days.
A POEM
by Theresa Wolfwood – TRANSCEND Media Service A Poem for the Women of Kudankalum Village
“I am Banyan, tree among trees” – Bhagavad Gita
BY TRANSCEND MEMBERS
by Kimpa Vita Press & Publishers – TRANSCEND Media Service PRESS RELEASE-Author Rais Neza Boneza is based in Norway; he is originally from the Great-Lakes region of Africa. Now, he taps that background and work as a peace researcher and practitioner to create a work of fiction and fact to bring in the awareness about the plight of people and simple individuals in the conflict-ridden Eastern-Congo.
AFRICA
by Brahima Ouédraogo – Inter Press Service-IPS It’s called “the bearing of the body” in Burkina Faso: when a death is deemed suspicious and a group of men carry the corpse through the community, believing the deceased will guide them towards the person responsible for the death. The accused – almost always women – are then chased out of their homes. According to the Ministry for Social Action and National Solidarity, some 600 women across the country have fallen victim to this practice. Most have found precarious shelter at one of 11 centres around the country, run by various non-governmental organisations.
BRICS
by Fabíola Ortiz – Inter Press Service-IPS The Brazilian government of Dilma Rousseff is taking firm steps towards stronger relations with Africa, such as the creation of a special fund to finance development projects together with multilateral lenders like the World Bank. Ex-President Lula said, “Africa cannot be looked at like it used to be seen, as a simple supplier of minerals and gas…We have to find African partners. We don’t want hegemony; we want strategic alliances.”
PALESTINE / ISRAEL
by Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service Recourse to this desperate tactic of courageous self-sacrifice is an extreme form of nonviolence, and should whenever and wherever it occurs be given close attention. We cannot now know whether these hunger strikes will spark Palestinian resistance in new and creative ways. What we can already say with confidence is that these hunger strikers are writing a new chapter in the story line of resistance sumud, and their steadfastness is for me a Gandhian Moment in the Palestinian struggle.
by Stephen Lendman – TRANSCEND Media Service On May 4 [2012], his [Jonathan S. Tobin’s] Commentary article headlined “Hunger Strikers’ Goal is Not Peace,” saying: “(T)he Palestinian goal is not their own state living in peace beside Israel but the end of the Jewish state and its replacement by one in which Arabs will rule. Palestinians view violence against Israelis as not only a legitimate tactic but also something that is integral to their nation identity.” Tobin wears blinders. History isn’t his long suit.
CAPITALISM
by Isolda Agazzi – Inter Press Service-IPS In a world where governments are increasingly subservient to global finance capital, multinationals are gaining ground in the fight against state regulations that aim to protect the environment, public health or social policies.
by George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service Why the private sector should be subject to freedom of information laws.
JUSTICE
by Lauren Booth - deLiberation When authority entrusted to further truth and justice betrays that trust, two options remain: one is to throw up your hands in despair and resignation; the other is to reclaim that power and to hold authority accountable. This is the statement of intent from the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War on the first day of its proceedings against former US President George Bush and 11 members of his regime. Over the next five days, the Tribunal will hear from victims of US torture in both Iraq and Guantanamo Bay.
APPEALS
by Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor – TRANSCEND Media Service Over 6,000 people face prison for their non-violent opposition to the Koodankulam nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu, India. Now, 330 protesters (302 are women) have commenced an indefinite hunger strike in a last-ditch attempt to save their freedom and stop the nuclear plant — and only our added pressure can force the government to stop this illegal persecution of peaceful protesters. They need your help urgent, PLEASE.
IN OTHER LANGUAGES
by Elias Bloch – TRANSCEND Media Service Im Süden Indiens protestieren über 10’000 Menschen gegen den Bau eines neuen Atomkraftwerkes. Sie verfahren dabei nach dem Prinzip des Gewaltlosen Widerstandes von Mahatma Gandhi.
by Bombom, Tia Fatima – TRANSCEND Media Service Gengibre, um poderoso anti-inflamatório e analgésico natural, que não tem contra indicações, segundo o Dr Al Sears.
by Kimpa Vita Press & Publishers – TRANSCEND Media Service Communique de Presse – L’auteur Rais Neza Boneza basé en Norvège, est originaire de la région des Grand-Lacs d’Afrique. Il s’ est inspire de ce contexte et son travail en tant que chercheur et praticien sur le question de paix et de la transformation des conflits pour créer une œuvre de fiction et des faits pour amener à la prise de conscience sur le sort des communautés et des simples individus victimes des conflits à l’est du Congo.
SHORT VIDEOS
by PlayingForChange – TRANSCEND Media Service This song is the Playing For Change Foundation’s gift to the world.
IN-DEPTH VIDEOS
by marxismconference – TRANSCEND Media Service Pilger: “Marxism in Melbourne is now Australia’s premier festival of debate and free speech on issues that are either excluded from or suppressed by the mass media: issues such as the government’s agenda for Indigenous Australians, Palestine and propaganda in its many disguises.”
JOKE OF THE WEEK
by TMS Editor Joe grew up in a small town, then moved away to attend college and law school. He decided to come back to the small town because he could be a big man here.
